John at RC calls this game a yearly right of passage. The annual Christmas game against some Canadian team whose loud, boisterous fans invade the arena. Giddy up for some ole-ing.

Both teams are struggling. The habs have fired their coach and their assistant coach, but their GM still has a job. Considering he traded for Kaberle, you gotta say, how the hell does he still have a job?

“I was there at the TV timeout, on the left wing, and I was right in front of the bench. Their coach [Guy Boucher] looked up and started yapping at me,” Hartnell told the Daily News. “I was just sitting there, not doing anything. Then, two guys started slashing me from the bench. I just kind of pushed their sticks out of the way. I ended up getting 10 minutes for really nothing. I've never seen a coach start yelling at an opposing player from the bench for just standing there.”

Hartnell said he didn’t know what Boucher was saying because he could not understand him.”

Riiiight Hartnell. It was all Guy Boucher.

Via Erlendsson of the Tampa Tribune, here is what Malone said about the game:

"It was a weird game,'' Malone said. "I just think (Hartnell) was standing too close to our bench, I think ... it reminded me of (the movies) "Slap Shot'' or "Youngblood'' or something. I didn't know what was going on.''

These references finally make sense to me since I (finally) watched for the first time both Slap Shot and Youngblood this Christmas weekend. More updates later on the situation if anything comes out of it.

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